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"Regardless of what happens our lives are finite. We all know that we will grow old and someday our lives will end. That's why we try so hard to live each day to the fullest. That's why we keep stumbling on trial and error. But it just isn't for ourselves, it's so we can leave some signposts for the people following in our footsteps. To cowards who cling to where they are and who have given up on try to move forward there is no way to see how bright the future is even though it's just around the corner. "

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^ On face value that's a decent quote, but then I think about who actually said it: Meia Gisborn of Vandread. I guess most people's concept of trying hard "to live each day to the fullest" does not involve being miserable 99.999% of the time and barely talking to anybody...

As for the thread topic, well, I'd say that anime has rarely had major life lessons for me, but I suppose there are some relatively minor things that I learnt:

Grave of the Fireflies (RIP Isao Takahata): I watched this and thought "Wow, life really sucked hard for those kids. Like, there was this stinging apathy, even from their family." And then I found out about the viewpoint that Seita was selfish for going it alone with Setsuko, and it did kind of bring a new angle to how I thought about it.

Berserk: Some people would do anything to get what they want...

Pokemon (1st series): I thought it was going to be a typical kiddy ending where Ash would win the Indigo league and everyone (and thing) would be all smiles at the end. But when he lost, that kind of made me respect the show's creators a lot more, for showing kids how we don't always get what we want. Although Ash proceeded to win everything in sight in the later series, rather annoyingly.

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Many people are God, usually in a universe no bigger than their own minds, all-present, all-knowing. And yet, impotent outside the confines of their heads. And what God cannot do, men will attempt. . . . .

Special Agent Arakawa, Patlabor 2:The Movie

“There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games.” ― Ernest Hemingway